About
The Postgraduate Program (MSc) in “Biotechnology: Food and Environmental Quality” was established in the academic year 2006-2007 through Government Gazette 664 issue B/29-5-2006, which was subsequently amended and replaced by Government Gazette 1085 issue B/5-6-2009, and later by Government Gazette 2297 issue B/16-9-2013. It officially commenced its operations in March 2007. In June 2018, the program was re-established based on Law 4485/2017 (Government Gazette 2111 issue B/8-6-2018), and its duration was extended until the academic year 2022-2023.
The program’s courses are held in Larissa, starting in March, and its duration, including participation and activities, extends over three semesters.
The MSc program accepts graduates from Health Sciences, Natural Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, and Engineering Schools of domestic universities or equivalent departments from foreign universities, with the respective recognition of their degree title by DIKATSA/DOATAP. Graduates from other relevant departments of universities and former Technological Educational Institutes (TEIs) are also eligible.
Up to March 2023, a total of 285 individuals have graduated from the MSc program.
More specifically, the aim of the program is to provide education in the broad and rapidly developing field of applying biotechnology for meeting the increasing demand for:
- safe and innovative nutritional products, with the ability to trace ingredients and control their quality throughout the production chain, as well as assess their nutritional value for human consumption. This includes a focus on metabolism and toxicity.
- sustainable environmental management, emphasizing biodiversity conservation, assessing human interventions at various ecosystem levels, developing biotechnological tools with a low environmental footprint, and creating methods to mitigate the environmental degradation of natural ecosystems.
In this context, the proposed program aspires to address the needs arising from the lack of trained professionals capable of developing new biotechnological methods for ensuring the safety of food and environmental protection.
Graduates of this MSc program have the expertise to pursue careers in both private and public organizations involved in monitoring the chemical and ecological quality of the environment, in bodies responsible for the management and restoration of degraded ecosystems, in biotechnology and food companies, in agrochemical, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical production companies, in companies dedicated to the development of new biotechnological products with applications in agriculture, quality assurance organizations in agriculture, environment, and food sectors, development planning centers, research centers and laboratories, educational institutions, as well as technological and environmental parks.
